Michael "Frosty" Beer

[Spark]

Haha the eternal refuge of the optimist.. the entire system is pristine perfect except for the selectors

It's not exactly perfect, but it's not a waste of time. It needs some work but it's a good system.

 

[benchmark00]

He averages more in Perth than he does in his career and he'd been playing cricket grade in Melbourne up until this season.

If you were going to pick a spinner because of local knowledge then it'd have to be North.

Where's Patto demanding Aaron Heal??

 

[Prince EWS]

Where's Patto demanding Aaron Heal??

Voges IMO.

 

[benchmark00]

Voges IMO.

Greg Mail to deliver.

 

[stephen]

It's not exactly perfect, but it's not a waste of time. It needs some work but it's a good system.

This.

There is a real problem at the moment with the Australian cricket leadership. They do not appear to have a plan for the future and have resorted to pulling random names out of a hat to fix their problems.

The thing is that two years ago I thought they had their act together and were building a team for the future. The bowling attack of Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Hauritz, while not setting the world alight were working very well together as a bowling unit.

Unfortunately there seems to have been a cultural shift over the last two years from being a young team pulling together to perform well into being a team that has a culture of insecurity and lack of stability.

This change in culture has to come back to the leadership team. Over the last couple of years we saw them develop Hauritz into a world class spinner (not the best spinner ever mind you, but a spinner that was comfortably able to be worth picking consistently) and then as he is nearing his peak they drop him and effectively tell him that he will not be picked again. Spinners tend to play their best cricket between ages 30 and 35 and Hauritz isn't even there yet. He has a moderate test record but had been improving steadily for some time. Now he cannot get a look in, despite performing well at domestic level.

Hughes basically won us a series in South Africa with some monumental performances. He had cemented his place in the side with an average in excess of 50. Then, inexplicably, he got dropped after two bad tests. He was given no leniency and since then has looked very unsure, like he is playing for his place every time he goes out to bat. He has lost the free flowing aspects of his game somewhat because the leadership created in him a culture of fear.

Marcus North was handled very badly. He would consistently underperform and the selectors would never bight the bullet and cull him from the team. He was largely the cause of our middle order woes for the past couple of years and yet seemed to have a "get out of jail free card". He was an older player who should have been shown less leniency, unlike Hughes.

Haddin and Paine have been very good keepers, I have no trouble with the way that they were handled.

The batting lineup has been very fragile at the best of times, but Hussey was rightfully given some grace due to past performance. Ponting has also come down from the stellar heights of his 01-07 peak. Clarke has developed into quite a solid batsman, though he does suffer from tending to fail when Ponting fails, which has lead to middle order collapses. Our openers have been very consistent, if not exceptional.

Looking at all of this, the problem to me lies in the captaincy, selection and leadership team. Why have our bowlers and youth been so mistreated, while players like North been given so much grace?

A very perceptive female friend of mine told me last summer that one of the things she hated about Australian cricket was that Ponting basically got to pick his own team. I now see how right she was.

 

[social]

While the selection policy has been terrible, I definitely think it's a bit of a cop out to just overlook the actual player ability problems that do indeed exist in some areas and blame them on selection.

The system definitely hasn't been producing good spinners, and a whole generation of talented batsmen have failed to kick on for various reasons (barring Watson and Clarke who were fast-tracked in such a way that they were essentially removed from the domestic system). Those are definitely failures of the system - be they temporary or otherwise.

PEWS, you know the Oz domestic game better than most so tell me how Oz has:

a. produced arguably the fastest bowler in history and reduced him to a head case;

b. produced 2 guys that have scored more than 20,000 fc runs between them at averages in the mid-50s and "granted" 1 test cap between them;

c. produced a young off-spinner with the ability to take 43 wickets in a season on the world's flattest road and created a bar-tender

IMO, the "educational system" is not the problem

 

[popepouri]

The way things are going, vic_othdox may get a phone call soon?

 

[Himannv]

I saw Hildich said that left arm spin is what the selectors want in the long term. Why is that?

Maybe because they feel KP can't play SLA's very well?

All an act by KP IMO.

 

[Howe_zat]

Maybe because they feel KP can't play SLA's very well?

All an act by KP IMO.

KP has been working on this for years. After the last Ashes, England saw that Australia's weakest spot was that of the spinner, and so KP has intentionally getting out to left-armers like Harris and Shakib ever since, in order to foster this myth of his weakness.

The initial plan was to do this for the 2009 Ashes, hence why Pietersen, calculated and cunning, picked a row with Yuvraj and got out to Suliman Benn. However, the plan had been implemented too late, Hauritz was picked, and so KP carried on with the plan until the next Ashes in 2010-11.

Next, after having got Doherty picked, KP got out to O' Keefe in the warm up game to convince the Australian selectors even further. Smacking around Doherty at Adelaide got X-Do dropped, but Pietersen remembered to get out to him at the end to further convince the selectors of his weakness.

Tie in the numerous forged threatening letters he has sent to Hilditch - signed Steve O'Keefe - and we arrive at the results, the selection of Michael Beer.

It's all a conspiracy, and KP is behind everything.

 

[Uppercut]

Wow, KP is a lot smarter than he looks. Is Shane Warne in on it too?

 

[Julian87]

c. produced a young off-spinner with the ability to take 43 wickets in a season on the world's flattest road and created a bar-tender

Think it was Terry Jenner that ended that career. Completely changed his action to the point where he pretty much lost his bowling altogether. Would go away to spinners camps and what not and was basically re-learning off second XI finger spinners.

 

[morgieb]

Greg Mail to deliver.

Any Sydney Grade spinners averaging under < 25?

 

[Furball]

c. produced a young off-spinner with the ability to take 43 wickets in a season on the world's flattest road and created a bar-tender

Who's social referring to here?

I really hope for Australia's sake that someone in the selection panel has seen Beer bowl, seen something special, and is picking him on a hunch. Because if not it's an absolutely ridiculous selection.

Mickey Arthur seems to rate him pretty highly though.

 

[Spikey]

Dan Cullen: Dan Cullen | Australia Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Spark]

Who's social referring to here?

I really hope for Australia's sake that someone in the selection panel has seen Beer bowl, seen something special, and is picking him on a hunch. Because if not it's an absolutely ridiculous selection.

Mickey Arthur seems to rate him pretty highly though.

IIRC Most people who've seen him like what they see, but... point out he's not a test cricketer.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Not sure what you can base it on then, but he is rather erratic yes

So you're saying Hilditch would be right in basing his idea that the shield competition isn't a reliable indicator of a player's ability on Johnson taking 5 for and scoring 100 for WA and then getting 0 and 0 wickets in the test? One example...when so many other factors could play a part.

 

[Goughy]

Think it was Terry Jenner that ended that career. Completely changed his action to the point where he pretty much lost his bowling altogether. Would go away to spinners camps and what not and was basically re-learning off second XI finger spinners.

There, ladies and gentlemen, is possibly one of the reasons for the lack of spin options in Australia. Jenner responsible for destroying more spinners than covered wickets.

 

[Rant0r]

PEWS, you know the Oz domestic game better than most so tell me how Oz has:

a. produced arguably the fastest bowler in history and reduced him to a head case;

b. produced 2 guys that have scored more than 20,000 fc runs between them at averages in the mid-50s and "granted" 1 test cap between them;

c. produced a young off-spinner with the ability to take 43 wickets in a season on the world's flattest road and created a bar-tender

IMO, the "educational system" is not the problem

Because it's being run by morons

Think it was Terry Jenner that ended that career. Completely changed his action to the point where he pretty much lost his bowling altogether. Would go away to spinners camps and what not and was basically re-learning off second XI finger spinners.

Ain't broke, don't fix it

So you're saying Hilditch would be right in basing his idea that the shield competition isn't a reliable indicator of a player's ability on Johnson taking 5 for and scoring 100 for WA and then getting 0 and 0 wickets in the test? One example...when so many other factors could play a part.

I just don't see how a guy can dominate with bat and ball then be so crap a few days later, I don't blame Hilditch for going on form in the Shield comp, which lets be fair, is still a good comp, Johnson obviously has some mental problems.

There, ladies and gentlemen, is possibly one of the reasons for the lack of spin options in Australia. Jenner responsible for destroying more spinners than covered wickets.

The guy has made a career on being the mentor to someone no one else can replicate, everyone else he's handled has turned to ****, hopefully he goes back to jail

 

[pup11]

The Ashes 2010-11: MacGill slams selection panel | Cricket News | The Ashes 2010-11 | ESPN Cricinfo
MacGilla pretty much saying the same things we have been saying for a while, think its about time that more former players and experts come out openly and bag these selectors and put an end to this madness....

 

[Craig]

Why would a finger spinner be learning off a wrist spinner? BTw, OT, should Beer make it too Sydney, it will MOVE him to a bigger house.